MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

My Philosophy of Educational Leadership -Critical Element Paper #1 Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary Education University of Northern Iowa -In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts in Education -by Jenny L. Rinehart Southeast Polk Junior High School Pleasant Hill, IA November 18, 2012 -Dr. Charles McNulty

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP My philosophy of educational leadership is one that I believe will change as I grow within the educational leadership program at the University of Northern Iowa; as well as once Ive taken an educational leadership role within a school. Throughout the course of this paper, I will address the interest in educational leadership, core values, my leadership style, and the expectations that I will hold for myself and others during my future tenure as an educational leader. The educational leadership program guides us as future principals through the foundational beliefs, expectations, ISSL standards, and ultimately the demand this position will have on us. As a teacher, I seek the opportunity to lead within my department, building, and district. Teachers witness firsthand the issues schools face and therefore, I am eager to have a role that would allow me to help make changes for the betterment of students. Through teaching, I have had experiences working with both general education and special education students. During this work, I have seen the disparity that sometimes occurs between these two groups and believe that as an educational leader I will work to address the achievement gap in my building. My philosophy centers on core values. I believe that all students are capable of learning and achieving at a high academic level. As a leader, I believe in a shared decision-making approach within the building, and at times, amongst the other stakeholders. The building principal should be an active participant in the pedagogy of the school through involvement in the professional learning communities. While there may be times where the principals role has a greater influence, those times should be rare; but not be more important than that of the stakeholders roles that impact student achievement. There should also be value placed on building leadership capacity in others. As Bill Bradley (n.d) once said, Leadership is unlocking peoples potential to become better (Compassion Road Academy, p 15). By building leadership

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP capacity, in turn, we are building strong effective leadership teams to help support our buildings. I strongly believe that I will only be as strong of a leader as the administrative team that I build to support me. A building principal is often held accountable for the culture and climate of a building. As a building principal, I will strive to have a building climate that is positive and safe for students and staff. The teachers will also have the responsibility for maintaining and promoting a positive learning environment for students and staff. ISSL standard 2 focuses on the responsibility of creating and maintaining the culture and climate of a building. According to Wilmore (2002), it is up to the principal to facilitate a learning community that values the heritage, culture, values, and diversity of the school and community (p. 34). In presenting myself to a potential school district, I would focus on the key aspects that outline my leadership style and personality. A potential school district would get a leader that is determined, a problem-solver, an instructional leader, and innovative. To be determined means to have the resolve to make a decision using data and stand by it. Principals make hundreds of decisions a day and stakeholders look to the principal for those decisions. At the same time, principals are expected to stand by their decisions. Its my belief that its important to stand by the decisions you make but again, I value shared decision making so I would anticipate having the support from my team to stand by my decisions. My leadership style and personality is one of being a problem-solver. When a concern or issue arises, I do not find benefit in just talking about an issue. Its important to dialogue with those involved in the decision making, but action must take place from that dialoging. I view myself as someone that is action oriented in my professional endeavors. Im not someone that

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP will tackle big issues alone; again shared decision making. As a school and its stakeholders, we will own the intellectual aptitude of our actions.
Its my vision that the principals role should be that of an instructional leader. As a potential principal, I would present my vision of the instructional leader role to perspective schools. The principal needs to be involved by participating in the professional development and the professional learning communities; as well as being visible in the classrooms. My belief can be supported through the work of Richard DuFour (2002):

When learning becomes the preoccupation of the school, when all the school's educators examine the efforts and initiatives of the school through the lens of their impact on learning, the structure and culture of the school begin to change in substantive ways. Principals foster this structural and cultural transformation when they shift their emphasis from helping individual teachers improve instruction to helping teams of teachers ensure that students achieve the intended outcomes of their schooling. (p. 12)
A principal as an instructional leader includes sharing instructional strategies with teachers, offering support when needed in the classroom, and an understanding of the Iowa Core Curriculum. As an instructional leader, I will be diligent in working to increase student achievement; a focus throughout the academic year, not just when a high-stakes test is approaching.

As I reflect on who I want to be as an administrator, I reflect on my previous principals both as a student and a teacher. My high school principal, Mr. Orcutt, is a leader that I respect and had many qualities that make him someone that I view as a positive, influential leader. Due to the times, his role was that of a managerial approach to principalship, but he strived to bring the best out in students. Mr. Orcutt was personable, caring, and took the time to know every students name in the high schoola respectable feat with 1600 students in the building. As a building we knew that he would hold everyonestudents and staff alike, accountable for our

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP actions in and out of the classroom. He was willing to help students that were struggling academically after school. So while, his role was not that of an instructional leader, I feel that he was ahead of his time as he focused greatly on the academic achievement of students. I would view him as a change agent, as he would challenge the status quo if it meant that learning was improved for students. I feel that to emulate portions of Mr. Orcutts leadership style within my own perspective principal position would make me a stronger leader for students, staff, and community. As a principal I will hold high expectations for my students, staff, and community; just as they should of me as their building leader. I expect my school to be collaborative in nature in regards to teaching and learning. The collaboration will be across the boardcross curricular, departments, as well as the special education and general education staff. I believe that collaboration is vital to high academic achievement for students. I will expect that all stakeholders are involved in our mission and vision. While this may already be in place, I will expect all stakeholders to be involved in the implementation of the vision and mission of the district. Teachers within my building will be expected to be instructional strategists and experts. I will charge my teachers with the task of actively engaging students through the use of a variety of instructional strategies. Teachers will be expected to well-read in the Iowa Core Curriculum and their content area. Wilmore (2002) states that: The type of instructional strategy really makes no difference. We must be willing to take risks and embrace change for the purpose of engaging one student at a time and providing an avenue to success that was not there before. (p. 37)

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP It will be an expectation of all stakeholders, including myself, to be fiscally responsible in our daily operations as well as in our long-range planning for the building. Fiscal responsibility is linked to ISSL standard 6 through being cognizant of the economic situation of your school, community, state, and even nationally. In public schools, our funding is often directly linked to legislation at the state and national level; therefore being fiscally responsible is also linked to having a political awareness and understanding how the legislation may affect your schools. While all of the ISSL standards are important for successful principalship, I firmly believe that the ISSL standards of 2 and 5 encompass my philosophy of educational leadership. In my professional judgment, ISSL standards 2 and 5 are the foundational standards for effective principalship. ISSL 2 focuses on the learning culture and climate of a building; whereas, ISSL 5 focuses on acting in an ethical manner. I believe that in my prospective role as a principal, I need to focus first on ISSL standards 2 and 5. By demonstrating my desire for creating an environment focused on learning and acting ethically in my decision making; the other stakeholders will gain trust and/or respect for my leadership. Once that has happened, I will be able to focus on the remaining standards and become a highly effective school principal.

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP References Compassion Road Academy. (n.d.). Ensuring educational equity in a healing environment. Informally published manuscript, Denver Public Schools, Denver, Retrieved from http://static.dpsk12.org/gems/osri/1CompassionRoadAcademyBody.pdf DuFour, R. (2002). The Learning-Centered Principal. ASCD: Educational Leadership-Beyond Instructional Leadership, 59 (8). Retrieved from http://cursa.ihmc.us/rid=1206976613786_1901503955_1669/DuFour%20Learning%20Centered%20Principal.pdf Wilmore, E. L. (2002). Principal Leadership: Applying the new educational leadership constituent council (ELCC) standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.